1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an optical system for evaluating concentrations of components in tissue and, more particularly, to a method and an optical system with a novel probe for evaluating concentrations and distributions of components in tissue.
2. Description of Related Art
As the techniques of the medical science developed, more and more means have been applied to evaluate conditions (e.g. the concentrations, and distributions) of various components in tissues. In fact, understanding of the component conditions may improve the treating modalities, effects, and safety of medical treatments.
Furthermore, to understand the component conditions in tissues, several methods are developed, and one of the effective conventional methods is the slide examination. However, the slide examination is an invasive examination, and the wound for getting the slice may turn into scars on skin. Hence, some participants may not accept the aforementioned disadvantages. In order to decrease the drawbacks caused by the invasive detection, some research teams have developed noninvasive manners to evaluate the component conditions in tissues.
Among the developed noninvasive manners, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) technique and multi-photon microscopy have been employed to characterize the conditions as well as the optical properties of tissue in vivo. Although the multi-photon microscopy can provide structural information of tissues in vivo, this technique has disadvantages of long measurement time and high system cost. On the other hand, different from the multi-photon microscopy, DRS is a simple and low-cost technique, which can provide macroscopic information, such as scattering property, collagen concentration, lipid concentration, melanin concentration and hemoglobin concentration, of tissue samples.
Collagen is one rich component in skin, which is highly related to the formations of scars including normal scars, hypertrophic scars and keloids. Keloid is a skin disease occurred as a result of abnormal wound healing and is characterized by extending beyond the borders of the original wound. Moreover, keloid does not regress, and usually recur after excision. The pathogenesis of keloids is complex and involves both genetic and environmental factors. Hypertrophic scars are similar to keloid, but are confined to the wound borders and usually regress over time. The predominant extracellular matrix (ECM) component of keloid and hypertrophic scar is collagen.
Although the predominant ECM component of keloids and hypertrophic scars is collagen, the pathology thereof is still slightly different. For example, collagen fibers in keloids are larger, thicker and wavier than in hypertrophic scars or normal scars. However, the current detecting method still cannot accurately identify the differences between hypertrophic scars and keloids.
Hence, in order to provide proper treatment modalities to keloids, identification of differences between hypertrophic scars, keloids and normal scars are a key factor for finding the correct therapeutical method. Through the evaluation of skin chromophores, including water, hemoglobin, and collagen, identification of differences between hypertrophic scars, keloids and normal scars can be evaluated accurately to assist in in vivo keloid diagnosis. In addition, the evaluation of skin chromophores can apply on various grounds such as clinical treatment or biomedical science for monitoring the condition of normal skin and for evaluating the status of pathological skin. Clinical or skin micro-cosmetic surgeries are held in accordance with the evaluated content of skin chromophores by lesion development or aging. The absorption spectra of skin were utilized to calculate the chromophore concentrations and monitor the hemodynamics of dermis.
Therefore, there is a need for device and method which can detect the conditions of components in a tested tissue, such as collagen concentration, in a quick, accurate, and cheap way, which have potential applications in skin disease detection and the evaluation of effect of skin care or cosmetic dermatology.